Govt bill to 'prohibit' private cryptocurrencies

The Central government is set to introduce 26 bills in the Parliament’s winter session, amongst which the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021 has created a stir within crypto investors.

The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021 "seeks to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India, however, it allows for certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology and its uses". The bill also seeks “to create a facilitative framework for creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India.”

Following the news, the crypto markets nosedived. As of this morning, all major cryptocurrencies saw a fall of around 15 percent or more, with Bitcoin down over 17 percent, Ethereum falling by close to 15 percent, and Tether down by almost 18 percent.

News18 reported that Cardano, Solana, XRP also witnessed a sharp decline in the last 24 hours. Solana dropped 2.18 percent to $215.86 while Cardano tanked 6.64 percent to $1.68. XRP fell 1.40 percent to $1.04.

On November 16, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance chaired by Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former union minister Jayant Sinha had met representatives of the Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC), crypto exchanges, and industry associations, among other stakeholders.